The above are videos Ralph took of Lock 3 in the Chambly Canal -- Locks 3, 2 and 1 are hinged together like steps.  We locked through shortly after these videos were taken.


Whew!  At 7:30 AM we left the dock at Lock 9 in the Chambly Canal and got as far as Swing Bridge 10 by 8:15.  Vicky, the bridgetender answered our call and asked if we had "checked out" with Lock 9 this morning.  We didn't know we were to do that since we'd already been through the lock two days ago.  We were told that in order to syncronize the openings of the bridges and the locks in the Chambly Canal, we will need to report when we are leaving so that the next bridgetender or lockmaster will expect us at thus and such time.   Vicky also said that she was also manning Lock 9 and would drive down to Bridge 10 in about a half hour.  When she arrived, she said that 3 more boats were coming behind us and it is their practice to try and limit the bridge openings so if we didn't mind, they should be arriving within a half hour, which was fine with us.  We had a nice chat with her and she gave us some fresh strawberries from the produce market across the street and we gave her some cookies I had baked yesterday.

We were finally on our way with 3 boats following.  We went through 7 bridges and 8 locks today.  The last 3 locks of the Chambly Canal are linked together like steps and quite interesting to go through 3 of them in about 15 minutes.  All the locks today were cranked open and closed by hand.  All the lockmasters and bridgetenders were very courteous and hospitable.  From Lock 9 (the first lock in descending order) to Lock 1 -- the total drop in water level was 80 feet.

We tied up at a park just before Lock 3 and Benoit (pronounced Ben-wah) walked over and came aboard.  He suggested we might want to go through the last 3 locks today since the "season" has not yet opened and they have limited staffing and during the week, we may get "stuck" at the city dock on the south side of the Canal.  We decided to take his advice. He said he was going to have lunch and would call us when we could go through the last 3 locks which are the 3 hinged together.  While we waited we took Striper for a walk and took some photos of the lock series from the bridge over the lock.  It was quite interesting. 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO OUR DADS & ALL DADS EVERYWHERE!!!

Jimmy Yost

Bill Lippert